the final countdown

How are we already in the last week before school starts? We have had such a great fun-filled summer, I am very sad to see it go. I am looking forward to some quiet days at home ahead but not looking forward to the business of school, music lessons and sports activities.

I wrapped up work yesterday and now looking forward to some time off.


quilted with Tiger Swirl

I counted the number of quilts I made/completed this summer and am shocked to say that equals 16. All since July 9th; w-o-w.

These 4 need their bindings finished. Three of them are stash busters; two are fabrics I reclaimed out of my lonely purse fabric bin. I think I love them more in their new creation than what I had originally planned to use them as.



I've also received some great mail in the last few days. Finally got my hands on the Schnibbles book,



And a book on free-motion quilting.



Too bad mom took them both on her holiday.

The next few days are going to be filled with the last summer activities we still want to accomplish and back to school shopping. With today's rainy, dreary weather, it's quite easy to believe that summer is over.

snack saturday

Banana Pudding Squares

25 Vanilla Wafers, finely crushed (about 1 cup)
3 Tbsp. Non-hydrogenated margarine, melted
1 pkg. (250 g) Brick Cream Cheese Spread, softened
1/2 cup Icing sugar
3 cups thawed Whipped Topping, divided
3 Bananas
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) Vanilla Fat Free Instant Pudding
3 cups cold skim milk
1/2 squares Semi-Sweet Chocolate, grated

COMBINE crumbs and margarine; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

MIX cream cheese spread and sugar in medium bowl until blended. Stir in 1-1/2 cups whipped topping; spread carefully onto crust. Cut bananas crosswise in half, then cut each piece lengthwise in half. Arrange over cream cheese mixture.

BEAT pudding mixes and milk with whisk 2 min. Spoon over bananas. Cover with remaining whipped topping; sprinkle with chocolate. Refrigerate 3 hours

card friday

something new

And it's not Portobello Market!
Except the colors do remind me of it :)

wordless wednesday

shhhhh

Don't tell but I may have one more Portobello Market quilt in the works.



Maybe ;)

i really love

How quilting a quilt can change your opinion of it. Especially when you don't particularly like the quilt.

That was Sherri's problem with this quilt. She didn't like it; when she first brought it in, she said she didn't care what was put on it. She just wanted it quilted so she could give it away.

After convincing Sherri to pick a pattern, she went on her way. And I quickly did the quilt up.

The look on Sherri's face when she came to pick up the quilt; priceless. She said that she loved the quilt; that the quilting made it come alive.

And I happen to agree.



I especially love how the back turned out. So pretty on the minkee.
Quilted with Ruffle Flower.



And who doesn't love black and white quilts? I have got to make me one!



Quilted with Tendril.

And one more, a sweet fairy baby quilt.



Quilted with Angel Wings.

quilt monday

Sorry it's so late today. Had one of those days that just wring you right out. Sure hope it's not a sign of what the rest of the week is going to be like.

On to the good stuffs.



I made this quilt for a space on the kitchen wall. Except it ended up being way too big for the spot, so on the kitchen table it is. I don't often make quilts this size for the table, I like how it is different from my norm. And yes, Portobello Market again lol!

Quilted with Limetree.

snack saturday

Easy Celebration Ice Cream Cake

24 Oreo Cookies, divided
2 cups Strawberry ice cream, softened
2 cups Whipped Cream, divided
2 cups Chocolate ice cream, softened
2 Tbsp. Chocolate syrup


LINE 9-inch round pan with plastic wrap. Stand 14 cookies around edge of pan. Crush remaining cookies. Reserve 1/2 cup crumbs; spread remaining crumbs onto bottom of pan. Spread strawberry ice cream over crumbs; top with layers of 1 cup whip cream, remaining crumbs and chocolate ice cream.

FREEZE 4 hours. Remove dessert from freezer 10 min. before serving. Lift from pan with plastic wrap; discard plastic wrap. Let dessert stand at room temperature until slightly softened.

TOP with remaining whip cream; drizzle with chocolate syrup.

re-do

I've spend the past few days going back and forth on what to do with my pinwheel sampler. I was going to go with my first instinct and and call it done but I was worried I wouldn't like that either. And with this backing already taken apart once, it wasn't going to hold up to a bunch more quilting and ripping.

Than I had an idea. And today I went for it. And I love it.



I kept the piano key border and quilted Folk Heart in the center of the quilt. This is the first time I've done this pattern and L-O-V-E it. I love how it created texture to the quilt.



I am disappointed I didn't 100% custom the quilt but I love this quilt so much, I was worried that my custom would suck lol.

I think it's beautiful; I just might have to sleep with it tonight.



Did I mention I love how this turned out?

firsts

This is Dawn's first quilt. It had some issues, little things that quilters aren't always taught when they first start out. The best part is that Dawn WANTS to learn and is eager to do so. When she came to pick it up, I showed her the best way to attach the borders on her next quilt to eliminate fullness and how to do her binding.



Dawn was very excited to hear that we will be offering drop in quilting nights starting this fall. Details will soon be available here. The nights will be once/month and we will be there to offer assistance in your quilting. And each night will feature a little demo/talk on quilting; how to attach borders, best way to iron, how to do binding. Stay tuned!

quilted with Flirtatious

wordless wednesday

decisions decisions

When I finished Rachel's Pinwheel Sampler I had an idea in my head on how I wanted to quilt it. I didn't want to slap a pattern on it; I wanted something more original.

Than I spotted one that had been cross-hatch quilted and I fell in love. That was what I wanted. It was perfect!

And today was the day to learn.

I loaded the quilt and away I went. And quickly learned that the cross-hatch rulers I had purchased were not designed to do an entire quilt but only small sections. So out came the seam ripper.

I briefly debated turning the quilt top so I could cross-hatch it that way but I had another idea.

I would cross-hatch each block and play in the borders and sashings.



I cross-hatched one way and was working my way back across the quilt, when it hit me. I didn't like it.



No really, I don't like it. My original idea was to continuous curve quilt in all the print of the quilt, none of the background. I have since pulled the quilt of the machine and brought it home all ready to rip out what I've quilted. But Jim loves the cross-hatch as does Mom.

Mom came up with the idea of cross-hatching one block and continuous curving the other but now I just don't know.

So I quilted something totally different instead.



Stay tuned for details on this one. And strangely enough, this is the third quiltie I've made this summer using Portobello Market. And I just may have a fourth in the works too ;)

i am in love

With this ruler. Love it love it love it! It makes stitch in the ditch so much more fun.



I also love the size!


I used it to do all the ditching on this latest custom quilt that Helen had made for her granddaughter. With the size of the photo blocks, the only quilting I could do was in the sashings(parallel straight lines) and piano keys in the border. The fun part of this quilt was ironing the fusible batting to the back of the quilt top. That took longer to do than it did to quilt the quilt!



And the winner of my giveaway is Paula! Congrats! Thanx to everyone who entered. I just might have another giveaway soon ;)

quilt monday

This isn't what I had planned to show you today but since we spent Saturday at the airshow, I didn't get to finish something special. So this is it for today.



I actually made four of these; one each for Jim's grandparents and an aunt/uncle. The fourth went to my friend Jill.

The binding wasn't finished in the pictures but I needed something to do on the car ride to visit Jim's family.

Today A is at camp(he just got home Saturday night from Calgary and we took him to camp yesterday) and B and M are in day camp for the week. And a quiet week it is going to be lol.

I'll be back later today or tomorrow morning to announce the winner of my giveaway. If you haven't entered yet, what are you waiting for?

weekend fun

snack saturday

Creamy Lemon Pudding Cheesecake

I made this earlier this week for a BBQ. Fantastic doesn't begin to describe it. I used light cream cheese and went with vanilla instead of lemon. I also added a splash of vanilla extract. SO yummy! I'm making it again next week; this time with chocolate!

1-1/2 cups crushed Nilla Vanilla Wafers (about 40 wafers) I used graham crumbs
3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
3 Tbsp. Butter or margarine, melted
4 pkg. (250g each) Brick Cream Cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. Flour
2 Tbsp. Milk
1 cup Sour cream
4 Eggs
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) Lemon Instant Pudding
1 cup whip cream
Lemon slices (optional)


PREHEAT oven to 325°F. Mix wafer crumbs, 1 Tbsp. of the sugar and butter; press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 min.

BEAT cream cheese, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, flour and milk in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Add dry pudding mixes; mix well.

BAKE 1 hour 5 min. to 1 hour 15 min. or until centre is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around side of pan to loosen cake; cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove side of pan. Top cheesecake with whip cream and lemon slices, if desired, just before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Prepare as directed, omitting whipped topping and strawberries and using Butterscotch Instant Pudding. Top with 1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans and 1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping just before serving.

card friday

how about a giveaway?

I've been on a complete purging tear the past few days. Yesterday at work, mom and I gave away close to 300 quilting magazines. I got rid of 50 or so of mine today and 60 stamping magazines. Than it was onto the boys' bookshelves and another 100 books out the door.

Tonight I tackled what I refer to as my bin of quilt. It is the bin that all my quilt kits or patterns with fabric go into. Some of them I will simply never ever do; mostly because my personal taste has changed.

That turns out great for my readers :)

I am giving away this kit. There is fabric and instructions for BOTH these quilts. It is a paper pieced project. The rooster quilt measures 19 1/2 X 24 and the rooster with extras measures 22 x 26 1/2.

So leave a comment; you don't have to answer any questions to be entered. If I get over 100 entries, I may just add another prize and give you all another chance to win.

Giveaway will close on Monday; let's say midnight pacific time. I'll announce the winner(or winners) on Tuesday.

Good luck!

wordless wednesday

all cooped up

I looooooooooooooooooooooove this quilt(I say that a lot don't I? lol). I love it so much that I did finally purchase the kit.



When I got this one for Hamels finished, it was too late to deliver it that day so I brought it home with me. I can tell you it looks lovely in my kitchen ;)

I also love how it looks hanging outside on Hamels store.



You can buy one for yourself here.

Quilted with Swirl.

quilt monday

I was surfing around blogland last Monday night when I came across Amy's post on Table Runners. I had seen Amy's original post earlier this year on V and Co. and popped the idea into my Quilting Favorite's folder. Monday night, I thought, I am making this now!!!



95 minutes later, it was quilted and had the binding almost completed. And I love it. I love it so much, I made a second one on Wednesday.


yes, that is a real pumpkin!

And a third on Saturday. All from raiding the scrap bin. All that I love.


Gizmo loves this one too.


Now, walk away from your computer and go make yourself one!

a day at the fair

That revealed a pleasant surprise!

Some of my quilting customers won ribbons at our local fair this year.

Teresa won a first and third.





Marie won a first.


Barb won a first.



And Ann won a second.



Congrats to you all!

snack saturday

Berry Bliss Cake

1 pkg. (4-serving size) Vanilla Instant Pudding
3/4 cup cold milk
1-1/2 cups thawed Whipped Topping, divided
2 cups mixed fresh raspberries and sliced fresh strawberries
1/4 cup fresh blackberries
1 pkg. (298 g) frozen prepared pound cake, thawed
1/4 cup Orange juice

BEAT pudding mix and milk with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup whipped topping. Combine berries; reserve 1/2 cup.

CUT cake into 3 layers.

BRUSH cake layers with juice.

STACK cake layers on plate, filling each layer with half each of the remaining berries and pudding mixture. Top with remaining whipped topping and reserved berries. Refrigerate 4 hours.